12. Reid
CHAPTER TWELVE
reid
PRESENT DAY
F ive weeks out from the wedding, everyone was all together in Silver Creek. Ellison and her bridesmaids would be traveling for her bachelorette party in a few days, and Colter’s bachelor party was in a couple weeks.
Isa was staying with Colter and Ellison in their spare room for the time being. She’d been in Montana for the Fourth of July rodeo last year, but she was only in Red Lodge with us for the weekend before she had to leave. So what better way to welcome her for her first trip to Silver Creek than a Carson Ranch branding?
It was great timing, honestly, to have everyone in town. There were loose ends to tie with Colter’s ranch before the Montana circuit started and then the wedding would happen. My parents didn’t have cattle, since my father worked as a power lineman and my mother, well, my mother could hardly take care of herself. It was probably a blessing in disguise that I didn’t have to take care of my mother, siblings, and however many head of cattle.
Some people were functioning alcoholics, like Colter once was, but not Eileen Lawson. I remembered several occasions where we’d come home from school to find my mother passed out on the couch, bottles of liquor spilling on the carpet.
That morning, I’d shown up to Colter’s house bright and early. It still had the same forest-green paint, but now there was a larger front porch and an actual driveway. Over the past year and a half, Ellison and Colter had put in a lot of work to renovate it, expanding the double-wide to add in a guest bedroom and office.
Momma Carson was in the kitchen, cooking a big meal to bring out later for everyone, and Ellison was helping her.
I’d asked her, “Where’s Blondie?”
“She’s still sleeping.” She’d laughed, pointing toward the closed guest bedroom door. “Not used to waking up at the crack of dawn, I guess.”
“And Colter?”
“He’s outside. Why don’t you go help him and I’ll wake up Isa.” She had shooed me away.
After I found Colter, we’d gathered all the calves and put them in the corral. Colter and I usually had the job of roping the calves and dragging them out to be branded, a couple of the hands Colter’s family hired did the branding, and Colter’s momma did the vaccinations. Everyone else was tasked with holding the calves.
This year, though, I was willing to pawn off the roping task to Hayden to help some of the newbies, which really just meant Isabelle.
It was almost ten o’clock and there was still no sign of Ellison or Isa. Mikey, Hayden, and Jake had shown up an hour earlier, and we were pretty much just hanging around waiting for the rest of the crew to show up so we could start .
“You think we should go get them?” I asked, hands in my pockets.
“Nah, they’ll be out soon, I bet.” Colter shrugged me off.
Sure enough, about five minutes later, they both walked out. Normally, Isa was extremely well put together, always wearing flowy blouses and fashionable jeans, but I was damned if I didn’t think she looked good with her hair up in a messy ponytail and no makeup on. She had on a ratty old T-shirt—probably one Ellison gave to her so she wouldn’t ruin a nice shirt—but it was too big for her, even tucked into a pair of Wranglers.
She would look damn good in one of mine.
“Careful there, Lawsy, you’re gonna catch flies if you keep your mouth open too long.” Ellison laughed as she called me out.
I snapped my jaw so fast, I only hoped my face wasn’t as red as I figured it was.
“What can we do to help?” Isa asked as she walked over to us.
“Nothing quite yet. We’re waiting for everyone else to show and then we can get to work,” Colter explained.
“What exactly is going to happen?” Isa raised an eyebrow, resting her hands on her hips.
“You see all those calves?” I pointed to the corral, and she nodded. “They’re all getting branded today. You’ll learn the ropes, it’ll be okay.”
She didn’t look too convinced, crossing her arms over her chest. “I know the point of branding, I think, but aren’t there other ways to do it?”
“Well, there’s hot branding, which is what we’re doing, and freeze branding. But that takes more time and we don’t have all week. Besides, this is the traditional way. They’ll be fine, I promise,” I reassured her.
“It’s a necessary thing if cattle get out or get stolen. There are only so many ways to describe them,” Colter added with a laugh.
Isabelle frowned, and I cut in. “You think you could describe that cow, just by looking at it, in a way that’s a good enough identifier from all the rest of them out there?”
“I-er,” she stuttered, trying to come up with something to say as she stared at the fifty-something head out in the field. “All right, I get it.” She rolled her eyes.
“It’s only a few seconds of pain and then they’re perfectly fine.” Ellison was used to this, having grown up on a ranch. I knew Isa didn’t grow up with the same lifestyle, but luckily for her, my favorite thing was teaching newbies the ropes.
“Everyone’s gotta start somewhere.” I winked. I mean, look at me. I didn’t grow up in a full-blown ranching family. Granted, I still gained experience from helping neighbors and getting invited to brandings by the families of high school rodeo kids, but I was a newbie once too.
“Yeah, Isa. Reid here didn’t even grow up around ranching and now look at him.” Jake ruffled my hair as I tried to fight him off me. “Didn’t even have a horse for a while.”
I glared at him as Isa cocked her head. “Really?”
“Yeah, I borrowed horses from other rodeo kids or neighbors.” I shrugged. “My family couldn’t afford to buy me a horse and everything required to have one. I got a job and also used any winnings to help get my own. All of my college tuition was paid for by scholarships too.”
I would rip a new one into Jake later for bringing up my past. I mean, Isa knew about most of it already, but my pride still kept me from disclosing everything. I made do with what I had back then.
Seconds later, a Dodge with a few of the guys who worked for Colter’s family pulled up, saving me from explaining more of my childhood.
“Hey, Colt! Reid!” One of the guys, Landon, came over and gave us all hugs, patting us on the backs as he went.
“Lando! How’s everything been, buddy?” Colter grinned.
The others, Ledger, Walker, and Jasper, hopped out of the Dodge and gave their greetings.
“This is Ellison, my fiancée, and this is her best friend Isa.” Colter introduced Ellison and Isabelle.
“Ah, yeah, I remember you, El. Nice to see you again.” Landon nodded at Ellison. “And nice to meet you, too, Isa.”
They grinned at each other, and a wave of jealousy washed over me.
Don’t be stupid, Reid, I thought. You’re not together, anyway. Who cares if she and Landon hit it off?
Over the next twenty minutes, more stragglers pulled up and, before long, we’d gotten started. Hayden and Colter were on horseback, a couple of the local high school girls helping out were making sure the calves stayed in the corral, and Walker and Ledger had the branding irons.
Landon was making himself a little too comfortable around Isa, chatting it up with her instead of doing his job. Annoyance boiled in my stomach at the sight of it. If I could kick his ass, I would.
“Isa! You’re up next!” I called to her on instinct, and the look of panic on her face almost made me want to take it back…almost. But if that’s what it took to get her away from Landon, I’d deal with it.
She hesitantly walked over to me, hands in her back pockets, leaving Landon behind with a scowl on his face.
“Get your hands out of your pockets, you’re gonna help me, all right?” I nodded at her hands, trying not to stare too long at how her jeans fit perfectly to her form.
“What do I even do?” she asked, bringing her hands out of her pockets only to wring them nervously.
“Don’t worry, I’ll show you. You’ll hold the calf’s hind legs,” I explained. “All right! Isa and I are next!”
Colter dragged out a calf, and I beckoned Isa to follow me. Ellison trailed so she could hold the head.
“You’re gonna sit on the ground and put one boot on this leg.” I sat down and showed her. “And then your other boot is going right here.”
“On its butt hole ?” she exclaimed.
I chuckled. “Yes, Isa. Then you’re gonna hold the other leg and kinda pull it back toward you, to make sure it doesn’t move away. Got it?”
“Um, I guess.” She didn’t sound confident, but Ellison encouraged her as she got on the ground next to me.
“All right, I’m gonna move and you’re going to do what I just showed you.”
She nodded and situated herself on the ground, placing her feet where I had instructed. She looked up at me as if to say, “Now what?”
“Now, keep a hold of it and after they’re done, Ellison is gonna get up and as you follow you’re going to spin the calf that way”—I pointed out toward the pasture—“so it runs toward its momma and not toward us.”
Ledger came over and branded the calf. Isa winced a little as the calf cried out, but she kept a strong hold, doing exactly what I told her to do. Before we knew it, it was over and they let the calf go free.
Dusting off her jeans, she walked over to me, a cheeky grin—which it seemed she was trying to hide—on her face.
“Not so bad, eh?” I grinned at her.
“It was all right,” she replied, clearly trying to be nonchalant, as she tried to walk past me, presumably to go back to Landon.
“Hold up there, Short Stack, you’re not a one-and-doner. You’re gonna do some more.” I grabbed her shoulders and flipped her around so she was facing the same way as me.
“But I—” she tried to protest, but I pulled her so her back was flush against my chest. “What are you?—”
“Shh…” I whispered in her ear. “You know, you can do better than Landon. You want a cowboy who actually does the work, you know?”
She ripped free from my grip and whipped around so she was facing me. “What the hell’s that mean, Lawson?”
I shrugged. “Whatever you want it to mean, honey.”
She scoffed and walked away to Ellison, instead of Landon, which was a win in my book.
Footsteps approached from behind me as Landon came to stand beside me. “Listen, bro, I didn’t know she was yours, all right? Could’ve just said something.”
“Sorry, man. No hard feelings, okay?” I lied. Isa wasn’t mine, far from it, but that didn’t mean I wanted Landon to have his hands all over her either. I considered it being a good friend to Isa. I would have done the same thing if Mikey had hit on her.